the rabbit opened his watch
by callmesandy
Summary: For Pepper and Tony to get back together they have to meet in the middle.


For the trope bingo spot "Kid fic." Title and opening quote from Virginia Hamilton Adair's An Hour to Dance By. Thanks to A for beta help. Not mine, no profit garnered.

* * *

 _no tale is endless  
the rabbit opened his watch_

 _muttering late, late_  
time to grow  
Old

Pepper calls, Tony comes immediately. She's in her office, Happy glowering at him from outside. That just seems unfair, since Pepper kept insisting the breakup was mutual, the break was something they both wanted. If it was a lie, and it absolutely was, he was the one accepting the crap deal. Happy always liked Pepper best.

Pepper is visibly pregnant, and she helpfully says, "Yes, I'm pregnant, this isn't weird weight gain."

"That's awesome," Tony says. "Right?"

Pepper nods. "Right, I'm glad. I'm good. You're the father, obviously."

"Never thought anything else," Tony says. Which is true, in the 79 seconds he's been processing this, he never worried about paternity. "Let's get back together. Why didn't you tell me sooner? How far along are you?"

"17 weeks and I didn't tell you because I was thinking. I was thinking about us getting back together. I was always going to tell you, though," she says. She fiddles with the strap on her heel and then takes off both shoes, gracefully somehow.

"How much more thinking do we need to do? I'm ready. Whatever you want," Tony says. "Have you checked on it? Palladium, drugs I've done, various chemicals I experimented with, I don't know what's in even in my little guys, they might glow in the dark."

"I have checked on the baby, a lot. A number of examinations and even an amnio even though it's too early for that exact reason. It's all fine. Right number of chromosomes and everything." Her face is softer than he's used to. "I know you have a ton of questions. But first, I wanted to say, I don't want you to do whatever I want. That's not getting back together. We should meet in the middle, like equals. I should say I'm sorry, we both know I have things to say sorry about. We need to work these things out. Baby it, you know?" She touches her round belly and then pulls her hand back like she's scared. Which she probably is. Tony's only known 8 minutes and he's beyond terrified.

"Sure, what are you sorry for?"

Pepper smiles. "I've been thinking about that middle. Where we meet. I think I need to accept, I do accept that your suits and all this superhero thing -"

"Quitting immediately," Tony says.

Now he gets a Pepper frown. She says, "I accept that you need to do it. It's not just your self-destructive urges, you always want to do good. You want to, to repair, protect the world. I get it. Sometimes I've been too scared for you to see that. But now I get it. I can accept that."

"Now that I'll have -" he almost says it, but reconsiders. "Baby Potts, I'm not leaving Baby Potts."

"Baby Stark," Pepper says.

"Meet in the middle," Tony says. "Baby Parks."

"We're not giving our baby either of our last names?"

"I'm trying to meet you in the middle," Tony says, smiling. "Stark is a lot of name these days. And earlier days. When I was growing up."

"Let's table that one," Pepper says. "I don't want us to be you doing whatever you think I need, we need to be better. At being together. And I don't mean just you need to be better."

"I'd like to note I would have liked to know you were pregnant at least 15 weeks ago," Tony says.

"Yeah, that's a fuck up," Pepper says.

"Agreed," Tony says.

"I didn't know I was pregnant until I was about five weeks along, and I should have called you right away. We should have talked then," Pepper says. She has a hint of a smile.

"Do I have to think of more failings you should work on?"

"Don't have fun with this," Pepper says.

Tony says, "I still win as more fucked up."

"Even after spending 7 million dollars to re-enact your child traumas and have them come out better? Of course you win," Pepper says.

"I don't think that was wasted money," Tony says.

"Some people see psychiatrists," Pepper says.

Tony fidgets. He feels like a full body fidget. All he can look at is that belly, the little thing baby forming and growing in there. "I don't have any other kids," he says. "I created a male contraceptive pill."

"And stopped using it with me?"

"I was only having sex with you and you had your birth control or so I thought," Tony says. "I just meant, if you're worried about my past, don't be."

"I always wondered why I never had to coordinate multiple child support payments," Pepper says. "Did you ever think about marketing this miracle pill?"

"Actually no," Tony says. "I pretty much made it for myself and my DNA, chemistry, metabolism. It seemed like a lot of work to make it generic enough that any man could use it. Also, I was 16, I was mostly thinking about having sex for the first time. Which was a formative life experience."

"I don't care," Pepper says. "Please no details, thanks."

"You can just find the back issue of the Enquirer where they dug her up," Tony says. This line of conversation isn't so much a line as a jittering series of dots not even connected. "You're pregnant."

Pepper nods. "We're going to be parents."

"I don't think I'll be good at it," Tony says.

"Sorry," Pepper says. "I'm not feeling incredibly confident about me as a parent, but I think we can do this. That's why making our relationship really really work is so important, Tony."

"Absolutely," Tony says. "I won't do anything you ask. We're meeting in the middle as equals." Tony can't stand up or stay sitting so he stands and sits on the floor in front of her. "But we're really not equals. You are, like, 100 times better than me. In every way that counts."

"But we just talked about how that's not true. I didn't tell you I was pregnant -"

"I wouldn't have told me either," Tony says. "The stupid accords, all the lawyers and everything else to get everyone cleared. I was unpleasant to many many people."

"The accords aren't stupid," Pepper says. "I agree with Rhodey."

"Does Rhodey know? Did Rhodey know before me?"

"Yes," Pepper says, eagerly. "I'm not better than you, I told your best friend three weeks ago."

"He's your friend, too," Tony says. "We were broken up."

"Tony, you have to get angry with me, or admit I'm making mistakes, or else we're not meeting in the middle. I'm just some perfect saint nagging you into humanity," Pepper says, tears in her eyes. "The hormones make me cry easily. It's awful."

"Okay, okay," Tony says. "I can be angry at you. You aren't perfect. I'm human without you telling me how to do it."

"Or thinking you need to earn me," Pepper says. "I'm no prize."

"You kinda are," Tony says. "But only in a normal I think my girlfriend's great kind of way, promise."

He reaches up, his hands floating inches from her belly. Pepper says, "You can touch me." She presses his hands down with her hands. "There isn't much to feel, though. I guess there's starting to be? I don't know, I've never done this before. She's been pretty mellow so far. But not in a unhealthy development way."

"She?" His voice breaks like he's 14.

"I had an amnio," Pepper says. "I should have told you that, too."

"I would have seen it when I looked over the tests." Nothing moves under his hands. "Baby Parks."

"Baby girl Stark," Pepper says.

"If she's a girl, it's probably okay to be a Stark, less pressure there," Tony says. "I don't think she should have a nanny when she's 14."

"Okay," Pepper says.

Under his hands, something stirs. Pepper gasps and starts crying. She says, "It's the hormones."

"Right," Tony says. This is far and away the most ridiculous and strange and wonderful moment of his life, he thinks. "Baby Girl is a horrible name," he says.


End file.
